1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to positioning systems and methods and information assimilation. More particularly, the present invention provides person or object positioning utilizing impulse radio techninques.
2. Background of the Invention and Related Art
In a number of situations it would be very advantages to have the ability to ascertain the exact position of an object or person in a predetermined area. This information can be used in a variety of ways and in a number of circumstances. It would be further advantageous to have the ability to correlate information obtained from the object or person with the movements of that object or person in the predetermined area.
With the development of impulse radio, precise positioning capabilities have been enabled. In co-pending and commonly owned application Ser. No. 09/456,410, filed Dec. 8, 1999, titled, “System and Method for Monitoring Assets, Objects, People and Animals Utilizing Impulse Radio,” and it's parent Ser. No. 09/407,106, filed Sep. 27, 1999, both of which are incorporated herein by reference, precise positioning was described in a number of scenarios. Although in the aforementioned applications positioning was described in detail, a way to correlate that position information to information relating the object or person whose movement is being tracked can be improved upon. Further, the ability to utilize the position information to accomplish a number of functionalities based on that position information should be realized.
For example, in a theme park environment determining the position of a customer as disclosed in the aforementioned application, which is incorporated herein by reference, is important information. However, what is done with that information is equally important. The marketing people would like to know many factors which can be determined by knowing the position of its customers and correlating information about the customers: 1) what is the average age of the people attending a given performance; 2) what is the average age of people who like to go on certain rides; 3) do males or females prefer to watch the water skiing show; 4) what is the position of all people in the park over 70 years old; 5) what is the position of all children under the age of 5, are they in a adult area or on a ride that requires to age to be over 10. This list is meant to be only illustrative and not inclusive of the information that is desirable to be ascertained.
In addition to information that can be gathered, it would be beneficial if the position information could be used to provide functionalities based on the position information. For example, again in the Disney Land paradigm, it would be extremely beneficial if when a customer was within a given range of a certain display, a narrative of the display would begin playing; and in a language that matched the primary language of the customer. Or it would be very beneficial if when it was determined that a child below a certain age was outside of a given range from their parent, that an alerting means would notify not only the parents, but the theme park as well.
Therefore, there is a strong need for a system and method to utilize the accurate position information that can be obtained from impulse radio positioning techniques, and utilize said position information to implement functionalities based on that position information and to correlate information relating to the object or person whose movement is being tracked to its position information.